The weather was perfect on Wednesday 3rd April and so our year 2 students could go to Valletta for a planned scavenger hunt. This outing was planned by the year 2 teachers and tailored for this age group to tackle Social Studies. Children had preparation lessons in their classrooms before the outing during which they discussed important facts about Valletta, including cultural places and significant people and monuments. On the day, the children commenced their journey at Cospicua where they took a ferry to Valletta. The children enjoyed the view and could appreciate the views of typical Maltese housing and the harbour.
They went up the famous Valletta lift towards Upper Barrakka. From there they went to the Auberge de Castille, Merchant Street, the Cathedral, Piazza Regina, the Grandmaster’s Palace, St George’s Square, Strait Street and Hastings Garden. The last two stops were the Parliament and the Triton Fountain. Along the way, the children had a scavenger hunt plan with pictures of these places to follow and check. Math was also incorporated in this activity as children had to count the windows of the Auberge de Castille, count the canons at Barrakka, and so on.
The students took interest in what inspired the monuments seen, such as Manual Dimech’s monument and his importance in Maltese history, or Queen Victoria’s monument and how she is related to Malta. They discussed the purpose of certain buildings such as the Auberge de Castille and the Parliament and learnt about the story of why the Cathedral is plain on the outside but very rich and detailed on the inside. They looked for English post boxes and telephone boxes found all over Valletta. They walked through the typical narrow streets such as Strait Street. They also had the time to stop, look around, observe and draw something from their surroundings in Hastings Garden.
Luckily, they also met the famous Maltese singer Benny (of Benny and Tonia) who engaged the children in his original song that he sang to them. The children were thrilled!
